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Lodise now carries an OPS of .825 with Columbus on the season. While Augusta was the lone team to come away with a minor league win on Friday night, there was still plenty of action to go around. Let’s dive into it all. Maverick Handley, C: 1-3, HR, RBI, R Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 2-4, 2B, RBI Garrett Baumann, SP: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, ER, BB, 2 K Gwinnett came up on the wrong end of this one after the Stripers found themselves battling back from an early deficit on Friday.

Chris Sale has needed to counter Cristopher Sanchez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Brandon Pfaadt, Gerrit Cole, and Jacob Misiorowski in the last month. While the Braves haven’t beaten them all with Sale leading the way, the results have been terrific. How about 67 strikeouts, 4 walks and 1 home run allowed in 52 innings pitched in the second half? He had a second half FIP of 0.88 coming into last night’s game. My back-of-the-envelope math says it is 1.23 right now.

The Atlanta Braves jumped out in front early and took the series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2. In a pivotal series, Chris Sale got the start and turned in six innings. He surrendered two runs on six hits, walked one, and struck out seven. Friday’s outing gave him his 14th win of the season. Fortunately for Sale, the Atlanta lineup put together some timely hitting to give the Braves the early lead before Mauricio Dubón tacked on some insurance in the eighth.

Mauricio Dubón continues to be a lethal and versatile weapon for the Atlanta Braves. Making a fairly rare start in center field for Friday’s series opener at the Philadelphia Phillies as the Braves elected to sit Michael Harris II against a left-handed starter, Dubón paid off that decision with a leaping catch in the outfield and, more importantly, an insurance homer late in Atlanta’s 5-2 win over the Phillies.

We’ve been treated to Chris Sale going up against some of the best pitchers in baseball lately. August alone saw him battle against Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers. That run continues Friday night as the Braves ace faces off against Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez in the opener of a four-game series in Philadelphia which is set for a 6:40 p.m. ET start time.

The Braves will have their hands full at the plate in Friday night’s opener of the four-game series in Philadelphia against Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez. Putting their best foot forward, the Braves have Ozzie Albies hitting above Matt Olson in the three-hole in the lineup, have Lane Thomas hitting fifth and holding down left field and are starting Sean Murphy behind the plate for the fourth time in five games to maximize Atlanta’s ability against a strong left-handed arm.

Call it wishful thinking or whatever you’d like but Major League Baseball has still got to put this information out there in case everything ends up working out and all baseball activities start on schedule. As such, the spring training schedule has been released and we now know the date to look forward to hearing the crack of the bat and baseballs hitting mitts once again.

A stretch that will likely determine the fate of the Braves’ pursuit of an NL East title begins Friday night in Philadelphia. Atlanta, which holds a four-game lead over the Phillies in the division, kicks off a four-game series in Philadelphia at 6:40 p.m. ET, also beginning a run of seven games against the Phillies in 10 days which continues next weekend in Atlanta. Luckily for the Braves, they do it with Chris Sale (13-9, 2.06 ERA) on the mound.

Battery Power Vote: How many games will the Braves win this series? The Braves and Phillies start a critical four game series in Philadelphia tonight with Atlanta carrying a four game lead in the division. The two rivals will face off seven times in the next ten games with the NL East crown at stake. How many games will the Braves win against the Phillies in this four game series? Closes in 2 days • 90 total votes Rec 0Thin Stroke Comment Icon BubbleReplyRead 6 replies

Well, here it is. It’s been a weird season, but the schedule has conspired to make September memorable for the 2026 Braves, one way or another. They have a four-game lead in the division, will play seven of the next ten games against the team they lead by those four games, and have an overall 16 games in 16 days stretch, all against contenders, which includes those ten games. Things could look really different 16 days from now… in a good way or a bad way… or they could look pretty much the same.